


Love Lives On.

by fairy_tales_are_real2



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies)
Genre: AU, F/M, Steggy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-04-01 21:33:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4035331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairy_tales_are_real2/pseuds/fairy_tales_are_real2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Peggy Carter thought she would never see Steve Rogers ever again. Until he was recovered from the ice a few years after the crash. Peggy's tried to move on, but with Captain Rogers back in her life, old feelings are rekindled. Can a love like theirs stand the test of time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The inescapable nightmare.

_“Come in this is, Captain Rogers. Do you read me?”_

It haunted her, every time she closed her eyes for even a second, the sound of his voice ringing in her ears every night.

Eventually it bled over into her waking hours.

_“Give me your coordinates I'll find you a safe landing site.”_

_“There's not going to be a safe landing. I'm going to try and force it down.”_

Always the same, never changing. The never ending nightmare.

“Peggy,” she was vaguely aware of Howard calling her name.

“ _I'll get Howard on the line, he'll know what to do.”_

_“There's not enough time, this thing's moving to fast and it's heading for New York… I gotta put her in the water.” The water, frigid and unrelentless. if the impact didn’t kill him the cold or the water certainly would, and for a moment she wasn’t sure which fate was worse._

“Peggy!” Howard’s voice came again, more urgent this time.

_“Please, don't do this. We have time, we can work it out.” She had to believe that, maybe she could talk him out of it. Maybe he could still come home to her safe and sound_.

“ _Peggy_!” Howard’s voice finally broke through her daydream like a razor sharp knife.

“Hm?” She looked up, realizing she’d been staring down at a open file on her desk and not reading a word of it.

“Welcome back to the world of the living,” Howard said, his sarcasm evident in his voice. As Peggy finally snapped to attention, realizing for the first time he stood before her desk in his usual pinstriped suit, looking dapper as always.

“I’m sorry, Howard I didn’t hear you come in.” Peggy said dropping her gaze back to her file.

“Clearly, there’s something I- Peggy!” Her gaze snapped back up, as if she was coming out of a daze.

“Yes?”

“Where do you go?” Howard asked shaking his head his arms crossed across his chest.  Peggy opened her mouth to respond but Howard cut her off. “Don’t answer that, as I was saying, there’s something I think-” Now it was Peggy’s turn to cut him off.

“Can’t it wait, Howard? I’m really very busy.” Peggy said returning to her work as she spoke.

“But, Peg-”

“I said not now, Howard!” Peggy snapped rather irritably, _what has he invented now?_ She wondered, _what could possibly be so important he insists on pulling me away from my work?_ She looked back up to see Howard still standing there, looking like he was going to explode.

“For the love of God, Howard can’t you take a bloody-”

“Peggy, we found him!” The rest of Peggy’s sentence died in her throat.

_"Peggy... this is my choice."_

"Him." Her heart was racing,

_"... Peggy." "_

_I'm here."_

_"I'm going to need a rain check on that dance."_

Who else could it be? They hadn't spent the last five years looking for anyone else.

Howard was talking but Peggy was no longer listening. She again had slipped back into the unending nightmare.

_"All right." She said bravely, "a week next Saturday at the Stork Club."_

_"You got it."_

_"Eight O'clock, on the dot, don't you dare be late. Understood?"_

She had gone to the Stork Club that Saturday. She had worn her nicest dress and sat and waited for him to arrive.

_"You know I still don't know how to dance." "I'll show you how... just be there."_ Men had asked her to dance but she had turned them all down. She was waiting for the right partner, but he never showed.

_"We'll have the band play something slow. I'd hate to step on your..." Radio static._

"Where is he?" She asked cutting Howard off mid-sentence.

"Haven't you been listening?" Howard said annoyed slightly. "He's in the hospital, the doctors say he'll be just fine."

The hospital?

"Howard, what do you mean? He should be..." She couldn't bring herself to say dead.

"That's the thing, we found him frozen in the ice and thawed him out. He's perfectly fine! A little disoriented but other than that..." _Impossible_. Or was it?

Peggy's mind was going a mile a minute. Steve healed quickly, a side effect of the serum. The impact should've killed him, but what if it didn't?

"The serum..." It seemed too obvious, yet it was the only explanation. Her work forgotten Peggy grabbed her purse and her coat. And rushed out of her office

she'd waited years for this moment, admittedly she'd given up on it, but none of that mattered.

_Hold on, Steve I'm coming._


	2. Chapter 2

Peggy hurried to the hospital and demanded to see Steve, scaring the wits out of the poor young nurse at the front desk. Once she was taken to Steve's room, Peggy rushed inside.  
"Steve?"

He lay in the hospital bed, confusion written all over his face, but when he saw her, his face lit like a Christmas tree.  
"Peggy? Boy am I glad to see you." He smiled, Peggy barely heard his words, she crossed the room to stand next to him, longing to cry and touch what she had thought lost to her forever.

"You're shaking," Steve, said taking hold of her trembling hands, the feel of him was almost too much for Peggy, who barely stifled a cry of joy.  
"It's good to see you, Steve." Peggy said softly, "How are you feeling?"  
"Confused, mostly," Steve admitted. "Is the war really over?"  
"Yes."  
"Did we win?" At this Peggy smiled, it seemed as if his brief departure from the world of the living had not changed him in the slightest.  
"Yes, we really knocked the Axis on their backs." Peggy joked, causing him to laugh, just like the old days. "It is good to see you again,"  
"You said that already, Peg."

Peggy blushed down to her collar,  
"Well, it is no less true." She said softly, she could feel him stroking her knuckles with his thumb; his touch intoxicating and gentle, the touch of a lover.  
"I'm sorry that I was late for our date, perhaps once I'm better we could go dancing as we planned?" She had made so many plans for them, most of them never voiced, those special plans that were more like dreams than actual plans.  
"Well..." he was still stroking her knuckles, she could barely think straight, "I'm sure we could work something out." The door to the room opened and in flooded the Howling Commandos, all-clamoring to see their returned leader.

Distracted, by the new on comers, Steve was swallowed up in the flood of back slaps and welcome back greetings.  
"Welcome back, Cap!"  
"We thought you were a goner for sure!"  
"We're so glad to see you!" No one seemed to notice how one of the commandos held back standing next to Peggy, James Montgomery Falsworth, better known as Monty stood by Peggy with a smile.

"Incredible isn't it?" He asked her as they watched the reunion of the Captain with his men, "have you told him yet?"  
"No I haven't had the chance," Peggy said turning to face her companion. "How did you even know we were here?"  
"Howard called us, told us you might be with him." Monty said, "I'm not jealous, Margaret, don't misunderstand. He was important to you, and maybe it was best the first face he saw was yours."

Peggy opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted by Dum Dum.  
"Hey, Monty! Aren't you going to welcome back your commander?" The British commando smile and stepped forward to greet Steve.  
"It's good to see you old chap," he said slapping Steve on the shoulder, "you really gave us all a fright." At that Steve laughed,   
"Monty, I think that is the understatement of the century. It is good to be back though, you all did your part to help my best girl right?"

She ducked her head in shame as Steve's question met silence, "What, you all listened her out while I was gone, didn't you?" Steve asked confused,   
"Yeah, Cap, we listened." Dum Dum said, "and we all tried to help her out too... when she'd let us." At that Steve smiled,   
"That's my girl," he said proudly, "I don't doubt that she whipped this group into shape while I was gone,"  
"She did, Cap, best leader we ever had," said Gabe Jones,  
"And she's going to make a pretty bride," added Moriarty thoughtlessly,   
"Maybe this discussion is best held in private," Peggy blurted out, "besides, I don't think the nurses appreciate so many visitors at once." But her argument fell on deaf ears; Steve was now looking confused again.

"I'm sorry, what?" Sensing the awkward situation the Commandos took this as their cue to leave, calling well wishes over their shoulders as they went. Leaving Steve alone with Peggy and Monty, "Peg, what's going on?" He asked his eyes fixed solely on her.  
"Steve, I swear I was going to tell you, I just didn't get the chance!" Peggy said distressed, " please believe me."  
"Tell me what?" Peggy swallowed the lump forming in her throat,  
"Steve... I'm engaged."

Realization filled his face slowly as he processed her words, Peggy expected a million emotions from him; anger, sadness, jealousy. But none of those came out in his statement, if anything, he was completely calm about the whole thing.

"Congratulations, Peggy, whom to?" It was then Monty spoke up, turning Steve's attentions away from Peggy.   
"Sorry, Ol' Chap, I was a little quicker than you were this time." He wrapped an arm around Peggy's waist as he spoke, again Peggy expected Steve to express his feelings of betrayal.

His best girl, marrying one of his men!

But instead, he smiled slightly and spoke calmly,  
"Congratulations, I hope you two will be very happy together." Peggy opened her mouth to say more, but it was this moment that a rather fed up nurse came in and declared that visiting hours were over. "It's okay, Peg. We'll talk more later," Steve, said with a sad smile, "I should probably rest anyway... I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, Peggy was rushed out of the room.

The promises of tomorrows visit looming over her.


	3. Chapter 3

Peggy spent the entire next day dreading what was to come; she was going straight to the hospital to see Steve after work.

Alone in that hospital room, what would they even discuss? He'd been frozen in ice for years, so current events were out, she had totally turned his world upside down with the announcement that she was engaged to be married to Falsworth. And if she was honest that conversation was just too painful to have right now.

Never the less, at the end of the day Peggy packed up her things and made her way to Steve's hospital room as promised.

She found him sitting up in bed, a game of checkers set up in front of him, and clearly out of sheer boredom, Steve was playing himself.

He was loosing too.

"Hello, Steve," when he heard her voice he looked up and grinned, Peggy swore the room got brighter when he smiled.

"Peggy, Howard brought me some activities to do while I'm stuck here, care to play?"

From the looks of his current game he was going to lose... or win, however you looked at it.

"I'd love to,"

With all the determination she could muster Peggy sat on the edge of his bed, the board safely between them while Steve set up the board for a new game.

"Red or black?"

"Red," Peggy said without hesitation, "matches my lipstick." This made Steve chuckle as he turned the board so that the red pieces faced her.

"Black goes first," Steve said as he moved one of his checkers onto the board.

"In England we call it draughts," Peggy said trying to make conversation as they played.

"Really? Well, you happen to be in the presence of the world's greatest checkers and or draughts player." Steve smirked.

"Is that so?"

"Yep, I played a lot as a kid when I was sick."

"This coming from a man who was just losing to _himself_." Steve shrugged at this,

"When you're playing by yourself you have to keep it interesting."

 They played on like this for a while, bantering back and forth, as Peggy slowly but surely gained the lead. But after a time, banter was replaced by awkward lengthy silence that is until Steve addressed the elephant in the room.

"So when's the wedding?" Peggy nearly dropped the piece that she had just collected from Steve.

"Pardon me?"

"C'mon, Peg, we can talk about this you know, when's the wedding?" Steve asked again.

Peggy swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat,

"June twenty first," she said softly, "six weeks from now."

Steve jumped one of Peggy's pieces and collected it as he listened.

"Are you having it here then?"

"No," Peggy said frowning down at the board. "James wants to have the wedding back home in England, and my father was very generous in offering my childhood home as the venue."

"That was nice of him," Steve said.

"It was the only way he'd pay for it, and besides he's just happy I'm marrying a nice British gentleman." Peggy said bitterly, "if I was to marry an American he would not be so generous." She used one of her kings to conquer one of Steve's singles.

"What's wrong with Americans?" He asked, "We have gentlemen here too."

"Nothing is wrong with them, my father is just a purist," Peggy sighed, "and he's difficult, I've always been a thorn in his side."

"That's hardly fair," Steve, said, "I don't have much experience with fathers but I know that he should count himself lucky to have a daughter like you."

Peggy offered him a small smile,

 "Thank you, Steve," she said before jumping his last king, "I win."

* * *

When she arrived home, Peggy found Angie waiting for her,

"How is he?" The waitress asked pouring Peggy some schnapps and offering her a slice of rhubarb pie.

"When I left, Howard was coming over to keep him company." Peggy said taking both offerings and gulping down half her schnapps in one drink.

"That bad huh?" Angie asked taking note of how Peggy guzzled her drink.

"Not really, we played draughts and talked." Peggy said taking a bite of pie,

"Did you talk about the..." Angie trailed off; they had stayed up into the early hours of the morning talking about what had happened at the hospital the night before.

"Yes we did, it wasn't my favorite conversation in history."

"That's rough, I'm sorry, English," Angie said sympathetically. "But hey, as your maid of honor it's my job to cheer you up! What can I do?"

"Pour me some more schnapps and join me," Peggy said gesturing to the bottle with her glass.

"You got it, English!"

 That night they ate the remains of the rhubarb pie and sipped on schnapps until bedtime.

"I spoke to a nurse on my way out," Peggy said between sips, "he's going to be discharged in a couple days. I can't even imagine what it must be like for him, he has nowhere to go."

"Maybe he could stay here!" Angie suggested excitedly, "that way I could meet him."

"You're going to meet him anyway," Peggy chuckled, "do you really think I wouldn't introduce my best friend to Captain America?" That earned Peggy a grin, “the only problem is we leave for England in a couple weeks.” Peggy pointed out,

“So put him in the wedding,” Angie suggested.

“James already picked out his groomsmen.”

“So make him your best man!” Angie said as she took another drink of her schnapps.

“Are you smashed already?” Peggy asked, the idea was ludicrous,

 “No! Well, a little, but it’s a good idea! You won’t have to worry about Steve being here alone, and it’s unique, I can guarantee no one else has ever had a best man for the bride!”

Peggy pondered this for a moment, it certainly did seem to solve all her problems, and Angie was right, Peggy had never been to a wedding where the bride had a best man.

“Alright, I’ll ask him tomorrow when I see him.” Peggy said with a smile. Angie was very pleased with herself, finishing her schnapps, Angie excused herself to bed, leaving Peggy to clean up and think on her friend’s wonderful idea.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you please review.


End file.
